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Childhood is calling: Remember the fun with these photos as Carowinds turns 50 

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The 2023 season at Carowinds is the amusement park’s 50th anniversary.

7/26/98. The chance to ride backwards is a crowd-pleaser on the “Thunder Road” roller coaster at Carowinds.
7/26/98. The chance to ride backwards is a crowd-pleaser on the “Thunder Road” roller coaster at Carowinds. GAYLE SHOMER
1976 FILE PHOTO: Carowinds Thunder Road roller coaster in 1976. Photo courtesy Carowinds
1976 FILE PHOTO: Carowinds Thunder Road roller coaster in 1976. Photo courtesy Carowinds carowinds
A photo shared with The Charlotte Observer of young Kurt Emsermann at Carowinds with Fred Flintstone in 1985, submitted by his mom, Doris Emsermann.
A photo shared with The Charlotte Observer of young Kurt Emsermann at Carowinds with Fred Flintstone in 1985, submitted by his mom, Doris Emsermann.

The park is now more than five times larger than it was when it opened in 1973. Back then, it cost just five bucks to get in.

Mainstays like The Grand Carousel and Skytower are still around but of course, plenty has changed.

For instance: Whatever happened to those Shetland ponies that lived on a man-made island in the middle of a river at Carowinds?

Story about Shetland ponies living in the park at Carowinds, published April 20, 1973 by The Charlotte News
Story about Shetland ponies living in the park at Carowinds, published April 20, 1973 by The Charlotte News

Let’s take a look back.

Open 50 years: Photos of Carowinds

Thunder Road torn down in 2015

The Thunder Road wooden roller coaster was debuted in 1976 to the public.

Carowinds water park

Photos of new Carolina Harbor attractions that opened in 2016

This story was originally published May 16, 2023 at 2:46 PM.

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Anna Douglas
The Charlotte Observer
704-358-5078
Anna Douglas is The Charlotte Observer’s deputy managing editor and previously worked as an investigative reporter and news editor in the newsroom. Prior to joining the Observer, she worked as a local news reporter for The (Rock Hill) Herald and as a congressional correspondent in Washington, D.C., for McClatchy. Anna is a past recipient of the South Carolina Press Association’s Journalist of the Year award and the Charlotte Society of Professional Journalists’ Outstanding Journalism Award. She’s a South Carolina native, a graduate of Winthrop University, and a past fellow of the Dori Maynard Diversity Leadership Program, sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists. Anna has lived in Charlotte since May 2017.
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Retro Charlotte

Re-live the moments that shaped Charlotte history with a look back at nostalgia-worthy photos and local stories that offer a glimpse into the past.

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